Background

On December 8, 2008 the Mesa City Council adopted a strategic
development plan for the Mesa Gateway Area (MGA) in southeast Mesa.
MGA includes the rapidly developing area around Phoenix-Mesa Gateway
Airport that will become the economic engine for southeast Mesa and
the surrounding region. The study focuses on two overlapping
study areas. The transportation study area extends approximately
from Power Road to Meridian Drive and from Southern Avenue to
Germann Road. The land use study area extends approximately
from Power Road to Meridian Drive and from the halfway point between
Guadalupe Road and Elliot Road to Germann Road.

Elements included in the strategic development plan are:

Strategic market assessments and economic development;

Land use planning;

Community facility, infrastructure and utilities plans;

A transportation master planning; and

A funding and implementation plan to achieve the
infrastructure and community facilities needed to support the
vision and prosperity of the area.

The study began in June 2007 and was completed in December 2008.
MGA is approximately 52 square miles and located within its
boundaries are freeways, universities, the airport, large
landowners, railroads, roadway access points and planned
developments. All of these elements are taken into consideration
during the planning process. The consultant for the Mesa
Gateway Strategic development Plan was HDR and their planning
philosophy is to enhance area assets, recognize the value of the
airport, integrate land use and transportation, create fiscally
responsible solutions and a innovative development in this unique
area of Mesa.

The planning process had six phases:

Phase I: Project Start Up

Phase II: Baseline Data Collection

Phase III: Alternative Analysis

Phase IV: Refinement/Testing

Phase V: Presentation/Adoption

Phase VI: Plan Production

As each phase was completed a draft memo was distributed for
review and comment by the Stakeholder Advisory Committee and the
Project Advisory Committee. The Stakeholder Advisory Committee is
comprised of major landowners, businesses, universities and
community members who are directly involved in the development of
the area. The Project Advisory Committee is comprised of
surrounding municipalities, government agencies and utilities who
have an interest in how the area is developed. The final memos
created the Mesa Gateway Strategic development Plan that was adopted
by Mesa City Council in December 2008.

The final memos are available on this Web site for the public to
read.

Mesa Gateway Area Vision

Part of developing a strategic plan is identifying a vision for
MGA that the stakeholder committee and project advisory committee
agrees upon and supports. To facilitate that process, the City
of Mesa and HDR invited Dr. John Kasarda to tour MGA and to give a
presentation about airport area development and participate in the
visioning process for MGA. Dr. Kasarda is internationally
recognized for developing the concept of an "aerotropolis". he
is an expert in aviation infrastructure, logistics, urban
development and commercial real estate. Dr. Kasarda has also
consulted on many international and national airport projects.

It is important that the Strategic Development Plan identify a
path for the future, while preserving sufficient flexibility to
accommodate changing market demands, maintaining compatibility with
airport operations and furthering the City's economic development
goals. To this end, a general Framework Plan has been
established.

The Framework Plan is designed to establish the critical aspects
of general development character and permissible land uses in the
various sub-areas of the Strategic Development Plan. The
Framework Plan designates the key considerations for land uses in
the various portions of the Strategic Development Plan area, in
keeping with airport operations and the City's economic development
objectives.

The Framework Plan's categories are more general than those of
the current General Plan, in that each category can accommodate
multiple General Plan land use designations. While a
description detailing the focus of each of the districts is in the
Plan Summary, the Districts' Expectations and Visions document
provides details regarding the focus, form, goals, character,
standards, block character and design for each district. Both
the Plan Summary and the Districts' Expectations and Visions are
available at the top of this page.